That Scar
by DarkDanny
Summary: Connection Series: Meeting in that Alley on the Citadel wasn't exactly the first time they had met.


**I know that I promised another fic called "life is Never Straightforward. But honestly, this was a story in the series that I have been debating whether or not to write. I hope that you can forgive it if it seems to... hokey or dumb. No it's not Francis Kitt dumb.**

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Dinner was quiet.

Tali and her pseudo aunt had been guests at the home for about a week before finally John showed up. The Reapers had been driven off Palaven for the time being. The cost was high, but that was expected in this sort of war. The fact that John had gotten safely back home from Palaven cause of great excitement for Tali, who, though would never admit it, was worried every hour of every day they were apart. If John didn't report in everyday, he was in deep trouble.

He said life on Palaven was no better than it was on Earth. The Reapers had left behind armies to starve and be eradicated by turian total war doctrine. Still, it was nice to know that the turians were in the same boat as them.

Tali was very ecstatic to have him back. He had been gone for the better part of the month. Everyday seemed like a real challenge for the soon to be wife of her son. Now that he was back, Tali absolutely refused to leave his side. Hannah smirked slightly. That feeling would fade away. The Shepard men could be a very trying lot.

Notably absent at the reunion dinner was Sarah, who was dragged off to one of Anatasia's little friend's birthday party. The poor thing, nothing was more terrible than a child's birthday party. She offered her daughter one of her father's old flasks. It would help pass the time and work somewhat at suppressing the noise of the screaming children, which Hannah viewed as worse than the husks.

Hannah Shepard sighed and leaned back into her seat, her eyes wandering from the happily in love Tali and John to Shala'Raan and her own husband, Eric. Both of them silently chatting business. He would leave Earth soon and be back on Rannoch. Back, it seemed, in better company. The two of them seemed inseparable. Today, the spent the whole day together, installing new air filters and sterilization units throughout the house, so that Tali could have more time outside of her suit while visiting her in-laws.

Eric was a misanthrope. There was no other way around it. There was no other way to describe his contempt his fellow man. To see him so comfortable with a non-human was surprising, yet not unexpected if that was possible. He hated people outside his family, so to see him back to his charming self for the quarian prior to the incident on Mindoir was odd to witness.

She took a drink from her wine. Her attention falling onto Shala'Raan solely.

Hannah had thought that name to be familiar. known long before John drug Tali in front of the admiral for her blessings of the marriage. Perhaps in another lifetime. She kept the thought to herself for three years, having forgot about it until she had met Shala'Raan for the first time.

"_Qualia_."

Tali's deep conversation with her Fiancee stopped. She looked up to the Admiral who was drifting off.

"_Excuse me?_" She breathed, not paying mind to John's look of confusion.

So during some free time she accessed the Alliance archives, scanning through for any references to encountering quarians when she was a younger woman. She almost slapped herself when she found it. Between growing old, the responsibility of command and the Reaper invasion. the incident had been completely forgotten.

Hannah set her glass down and turned her eyes to Shala. She too was no longer in conversation with Eric. instead she was staring with those bright, inquisitive eyes of her. Hannah smiled lazily.

"Shala, tell me. Before you met my son. Did you have any dealings with the Alliance?" She inquired. "Incidents with Cerberus notwithstanding."

Shala glanced to Tali. Slowly, she nodded very cautiously.

"On several occasions, Admiral."

Hannah's smile widened much more. She turned to John, who was curiously staring at his mother whenever he wasn't looking at Tali and how stunned she appeared by the sudden bombshell. Hannah had to admit that she too was stunned at how this all seemed to fit together. Almost as though it as destiny, like she believed in that...

"John... How did you receive that stupid scar?" Hannah asked, much to the confusion of her son. John shrugged mildly.

"I tripped, hit a sharp edge on the SSV Everest." He explained. "Hurt like hell."

Hannah shook her head.

"No... you didn't trip." Hannah corrected her son. "I wasn't with you but there were Alliance personal around to see it. You were _pushed_, albeit by accident from a little quarian girl in her bubble."

She paused, smirked and gestured to Tali, who suddenly went very still.

"Why... in fact it was _this_ quarian girl."

All Tali could do was stare wide and blink. She glanced away, her eyes looking at the faint scar tissue on the top of John's forehead.

"_Me?_ " Was all she could get out. Hannah rolled her eyes.

"No, the _other_ quarian girl my son is going to get married to." She returned, pushing as much sarcasm out of her tone as possible. If Tali was blushing Hannah could not see it.

"I knew I remembered the names Raan, Zorah and Qualia from somewhere." Hannah pressed on. "I suppose the Migrant Fleet was encroaching on Alliance space. The SSV Everest was sent to intercept. I was just a junior officer at the time, but you don't forget the kind of screaming match you can get into with an enraged quarian mother. It was Qualia. Your mother. John was 11, you would have been 4."

A sudden slap smacked against the back of John's head. It was Tali and she looked absolutely furious.

"I met _you_ when I was a child and you didn't _tell_ me? And my mother as well?" She whispered furiously at him as though the whole thing was solely his fault.

"I didn't _remember_ that!" John shot back. "Hell, I can barely remember when I was 16, let alone 11! I remember being on the Everest but not a hell of a lot else."

Tali snorted.

"You remember how you got your wound, but you did not recall the pouncing quarian bubble that did it to you?" Tali retorted, her eyes narrowed at the Spectre.

Hannah held her hand up.

Here, let me explain." The Admiral spoke to the couple. "Before Tali tries to kill you... _again_."

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**June 17th 2165  
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_"Before we begin, we'd like to formally greet the quarian delegation led by Admiral Rael'Zorah vas Rayya and Captain Shala'Raan vas Tonbay to the Everest. If the little one should wish to run off and play, then by all means a yeoman will take her and your wife to the recreational center. The Everest is equipped for children."_

_"My child is quite capable of being patient. I am certain you will not want us on your vessel for any longer than you will allow it."_

_"My apologies if you got that message from us. You must understand, we don't have he best track record with contacting with races we have yet to encounter before."_

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was _soooo_ bored. The weird handed aliens were talking in such a silly language, like grunts and hisses. How her parents could pay attention to it was beyond her. She bounced slightly and noticed that mother was not paying any attention to her. Perhaps she could run off and explore the ship. it was so new and shiny. She never seen anything so spotless.

Nobody noticed as the door leading out of the room opened and she tiptoed out. She stepped lightly, staring around at the amazing ship and their strange inhabitants. It didn't take long until Tali reached the end of the corridor and to a flight of stairs. Tali widened her eyes as she glanced down the stairs. Standing there was another alien, but he was shorter than the other... it was a child!

There were children on board the ship! Perhaps she could finally get to play or do something interesting!

Just as Tali was going to careful step down the stairs to see if the child alien would play with her, one of the tall aliens brushed against her bubble. Tali lost her footing and down she went the steps, bouncing all the way until finally she hit the ground once and bounced even hard. Her bubble and her light weight hit the boy in the back.

The child grunted and was pushed forward, his head connecting into a corner of hard metal with a sickening crunch and collapsed to the ground, his face suddenly covered in a lot of red.. The alien child only grunted as his hand flew up to his head as he sat back up. The red fluid which she assumed was blood flowing freely down the side of his face.

The closest alien was female, she rushed to his side, her arm wrapping around his shoulder.

"John, Christ boy, are you alright?" She asked of him. The boy named John nodded his head.

"Yes Captain... I think I need some bandages."

Tali stared blankly at the two alien barking away in their language. She did not noticed that he red stuff coming from he boy's head was being dripped on her as he focused his dull looking eyes down on her. Tali smiled brightly at him. The boy however, didn't return the smile. He was _mad_ at her.

**...**

_"Second Lieutenant Shepard, drop whatever you're doing. Your son has been injured. He's outside the communication center."_

Second Lieutenant Hannah Shepard looked up from the NAV terminal. Captain Ingridson? What the hell had John done now? Leaving the navigation she nearly broke into a run to get to the communication center.

It didn't take long for her to find him. He was surrounded by Captain Ingridson, who was down on her knees next to her son and Medical Officer Kelly Patel, who was carefully examining the wound. Then there was someone in front of the that caught her off guard. A alien child in a bubble.

_A quarian?_

Hannah shook her head and stepped forward, joining her son and her superior officer. Patel looked up to her and smiled slightly.

"That wound isn't going anywhere." Patel mused. "It's going to need a dozen stitches at least."

Hannah nodded.

"Do it... John, what happened?" She asked as she took over wiping the blood off her son's face, now rigid and refusing to admit he was in pain. John grunted and glanced down to the alien in the bubble.

"I wanted to go and send a message to Dad. I was waiting, then I got hit by her."

Medical Officer Patel looked up to the mother.

"Okay, I'm going to get ready." Patel requested. "Please hold the wound, Ma'am."

Hannah sighed and followed Patel's request, her hand digging deeply into her son's forehead and scalp. She glanced down and noticed the small alien in her bubble. She was swaying back and forth, as though bored. Her eyes were held onto her victim, John. She appeared to be smiling, or trying to raise any sort of emotion from the boy.

From behind them, furious screaming erupting from thew stairs leading to the conference room. It was another alien, feminine. It was the child's mother and she did not sound happy in the least.

The quarian pushed past the crowd, pushed past her and fell to her knees neck to her child. She did not have a translator, so her screams came on deaf ears... well soon to be deaf. She could holler louder than the banshees from mythology. Without even waiting, she nearly pushed Patel out of the way so she too could dig through the medical bag. What she found was a box of antiseptic wipe tissues, which she opened and started furiously washing the blood out of the bubble.

She looked up, her eyes latched onto hers. She seemed to deduce that Hannah was the mother of John. Her chirping shouts were suddenly directed to her as though it had been John and her fault that the quarian's child was unattended too.

Captain Michelle Ingridson stood far back from the shouting, she looked like she was close to breaking down into a fit of laughter.

"With all due respect, What in the hell is this bitch hollering at me for, Ma'am?" Hannah said as she held her hand tightly over her son's head wound. John didn't make a noise. He was much too old to cry.

"Your son got blood all over her daughter's bubble. They're a race of clean freaks. What do you expect? Praise?" The captain finally laughed.

The alien mother screaming in her alien tongue only grew as she furiously tried to work the stubborn human blood out of the bubble, not paying any attention to the gathering of quarian and alliance men and women. The child in the bubble could only giggle at all the attention she was receiving. She seemed to love being at the center of attention, especially John's who stared furiously at her.

"Is she giving you a headache, John?" Hannah muttered. John nodded, wincing. She chuckled humorlessly and added. "Yeah, me too."

Suddenly the Omni-Tool translator on the quarian's arm flickered to life. It was sending and receiving once more.

_"-And You're a lousy mother!"_ The quarian screamed in perfect English.

The conversation and light laughter died at the utterance. The crew members of the Everest and even Captain Ingridson looked shocked and suddenly rather nervous. You didn't call Hannah a lousy parent and simply walk away from it unscathed.

Hannah blinked and looked up to the quarian.

"The _fuck_ did you just call me?"

All the attention she held on her son was gone. She simply took John's hand, forced it to clutch the wound and stood up, her eyes narrowing at the quarian who recoiled with wide eyes as the human woman stood and loomed right over the mother and her small child.

"I dare you to repeat that, sweetheart." Hannah challenged the quarian.

The quarian mother stood up as well; Now eye to eye with the human.

"You're a _lousy_ mother." She hissed, leaning forward as if daring the human to hit her.

Hitting her? It something Hannah would have gladly obliged had the Captain and now Rear Admiral Stephen Hackett not been standing right there. Behind him was another quarian, broader and masculine. It was the father of the child, the mother's husband. He crossed his arms. He didn't look happy.

"Lieutenant, Stand down. Beating another mother is unbecoming." Rear Admiral Hackett ordered. Hannah backed away and snapped out a crisp salute to the CO of the ship.

"Aye, sir." She simply said, all thoughts of turning the woman into a purple mist vanished as military discipline set back in.

Turning away from the elder Shepard, he placed his hand onto John's shoulder, his attention back into the quarians.

"Miss Qualia'Zorah, Admiral Rael'Zorah. Please forgive this incident." Hackett apologized on behalf of Hannah, who at least appeared sheepish for her reaction to the challenge she issued Qualia. "John didn't mean to contaminate her bubble, just as I'm certain the child didn't mean harm on our future marine here. Am I right son?"

John nodded as the stitch work was applied by Medical Officer Patel.

"Didn't even hurt, sir." He stated modestly. Admiral Hackett clapped his hand onto John's shoulder, almost as though he had been related to him.

"That's the spirit son." Hackett praised the unflinching preteen. "Pain is only a mindset. Only those strong enough can embrace that concept. Why don't you take Miss Zorah down to the recreation center. Perhaps you can find her something to take her attention off hurting you."

He paused, watching in mild amusement as the small child pulled onto John's arm, something the boy was furiously trying to ignore.

"Which is apparently something she likes to do..." Hackett tacked on. He turned to Admiral Zorah and gestured back the way they came from. Rael'Zorah shot a hard, appraising look at John, but turned away wordlessly, as he instead followed the fellow Admiral back to the rest of the delegation.

Qualia did not join her husband, Captain Ingridson and Hackett, not at first. The borrowed sterilization napkins were still being used by her. She paid no attention to Tali's giggles and clutching of the human boy she ran over, her sole focus was on getting the bubble clean. Hannah frowned and felt an ounce of respect for the woman. It must have been terrifying to live with the thought that one day an infection could kill her little life in a matter of minutes...

"Her name is _Tali_,." Qualia finally spoke rather stiffly to the human mother as she finished cleaning the last of the blood off the bubble.. "You're to blame if anything happens to my daughter."

Hannah narrowed her eyes.

"His name is John." Hannah returned stiffly, gesturing to her boy. "I don't have time to babysit your child. But John does."

Hannah shot her son a simple stare that killed all resistance in his expression. He silently glowered as he gave Patel a word of thanks fore her quick and mostly painless stitch work. The two mothers, Qualia and Hannah simply stared at one another. neither of them moving. Finally Hannah, having been clearly the only reasonable one, cleared her throat.

"You heard the Admiral Hackett, John." She commanded, not taking her eyes off the quarian "Take her along to the recreational deck."

John groaned.

"I'm don't want to drag some babbling baby around." He complained "Besides, I have schoolwork to do."

Hannah blinked and looked down on him.

"Do it." She snapped. "Qualia and I have to talk about that girl's dowry."

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"Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that."

Hannah looked up ad noticed John sitting there, his arms crossed as he stared at her. Hannah finished her drink, smiling into her glass.

"Alright, I made the last part up." She admitted. "Anyways, You took her to the elevator and I suppose it was Qualia who collected her. That's all I know."

The table fell quiet as Tali and John both absorbed what they had been told. John looked up finally amused that this had happened. It was Tali, however that seemed more upset."

"Auntie Raan, why didn't you tell me this happened?" Tali demanded,e turning her attention on the silent older woman. Shala shook her head apologetically.

"I did not know this had happened." Shala returned. "Rael excused himself with Admiral Hackett when Qualia left. I continued negotiations with the Alliance representative. When they came back, they did not speak about it. They said you were in the care of other children on the ship. Then you came back... you seemed so happy."

Tali nodded. Looking at John briefly, with Hannah assumed was a smile, she stood up and wandered over to Hannah. Before Hannah could react, Tali had pulled Hannah into a tight hug. Hannah exhaled and returned it.

"You don't understand what that story meant to me, Hannah." Tali whispered into her future mother-in-law's arms. "Usually those around me tell stories of her selflessness, how she was perfect in every possible way. I'm ... happy that you gave me a memory that showed her as a real person. I did not know she had a temper."

Hannah smiled and allowed Tali to escape, albeit only to arms length.

"It's my pleasure, Tali." She returned, cupping Tali's faceplate. "I only wish I could have more to share with you. Eric and you have much more in common than I thought."

Eric grunted.

"Except my mom decided to hang herself. Lovely lass, my mom."

The other four, usually well adjusted people, suddenly went silent as an awkward pause was caused by a father who looked unfazed about joking over his mother's untimely death. Shala glanced over to him. He looked up, slightly smirked and shrugged before going back to idly twiddling his thumbs

John cleared his throat, his arm looping into Tali's.

"On that note, I'm going to have to steal Tali from you now." He spoke through the awkward silence. "Has the sterilization unit been installed?"

Eric through his hand out, as though waving his son off.

"All done, try not to break her, boy."

Being led away by John, Tali fumed as her future Father-in-Law cackled her expense. Growling slightly, she turned back.

"If you hear John scream it's because _I_ broke him. Quarian's aren't _fragile_ like humans." She boasted. Hannah laughed as Eric's eyes went wide and his skin blushed with embarrassment.

It wasn't the comeback that got Eric red in the face however. What neither Sarah, John, not even Tali saw. Was how smug Shala'Raan looked as she crossed her arms and stared down Eric as though he was a piece of meat. The look Shala gave pretty much confirmed just how right Tali might have been.

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"What do you know, destiny, eh?"

"Coincidence at best."

John rolled his eyes as he undressed. How could he have not expected that response? His mother could have told them that they had been best friends as young children and it wouldn't have made the slightest dent in her attitude towards concepts that were based outside the realms of hard fact.

"Can it kill you to be female on occasion?" He wondered aloud as he pulled on some sleeping attire and looked her over. "Do you know how many women would get wet if they found out their husband and them met as children?"

As he turned away, long, thin arms wrapped around his chest, pulling the human into a tight embrace.

"Well I'm not one of them." Tali whispered into his ear. "If you want me to bed you, I suggest you change that attitude."

The hiss of the mask being detached came from and a sudden pair of small lip pressed right up against his cheek. Smiling into the affection, he turned his head, Tali took the hint and pressed her lips against his briefly before sliding down to capture his neck with her sharp teeth and tongue.

"_Yes,_ _Admiral Zorah_." He moaned, almost submissively as he allowed the suddenly amorous quarian have her way with him.

John fell silent as the quarian pulled back and slinked off him as she slowly worked her suit off. The newly installed air filtration and sterilization units were working like a charm. Now naked she fumbled around through her new collection of garments to wear. Now in one of his old Alliance shirts. She turned back and crawled into his waiting arms. John laid back, Tali curled up right on top of him, forcing the Spectre to grunt slightly.

As Hands begun roaming over all of Tali's gorgeous curves, a prelude to almost every sexual encounter. He paused he noticed Tali appearing rather distracted by something she seemed to be debating to tell him. Finally, she broke her silence as she pulled her head from off his chest to look him in the eyes.

"So I've been thinking lately... about _us_."

Shepard nodded his head, more than confident that this wasn't a break up or anything. Tali's reverence broke as she slowly, carefully allowed a smile to be seen as she played with his many fingers.

"I think... No, I want children... Not now, but pretty soon." She admitted very nervously. "I _want_ to be mother."

John felt his heart push up into his chest... Tali never discussed children before. At any mention of them, she would immediately draw attention away from the subject with sexual temptations and false claims that she needed to go help Arah or Shala do something. So about two years ago, John stopped bringing it up... He didn't want her to fall into a position that she wasn't ready for or didn't plain want.

To have her this open about the subject was very rare.

Tali crawled off her human and stood back up. She appeared to be pacing as she thought the topic over internally. He had to admit, it was rather funny to watch her get this worked up. Tali stopped pacing and turned to him. Her eyes were wide and wild as they stared at him.

"Do you... Do you think I'll make a good mother?" She demanded to know from him.

John did he best not to snort and laugh at her question. Of course she would be great.

"The very best." He simply stated.

Tali stepped forward, her knees touching the edge of the bed as her held hung low. He watched as her hand reached up and copied his quirk: She rubbing her neck.

"I'll never as good as my mother... but... But I mean... I mean, I'll try..." Tali spoke as though she hadn't heard him praise her. "We'll be good parents, right?" She added, suddenly sounding very uncertain again. "We won't be too overbearing? Right? I-I just want them to have a life where they don't have to worry about anything..."

John squeezed her hand comforting the nearly ranting woman. Tali paused and looked back up to the soon to be human body pillow.

"I'll do my best not apply military training to the parenting." John promised his soon-to-be wife. Tali nodded, both agreeing with his sentiment and appearing relieved that he would not take command of the children as though they had been his old crew on the Normandy..

"Or have an unreachable expectation..." Tali tacked on, her brooding thoughts clearly fell to her father. Slowly John sighed. Rael'Zorah had be quite possibly the only thing that could ever dampen the mood between the two of them. He had been dead for nearly four years and she still had an axe to grind with him.

"Or sending them off on some stupid pilgrimage only to get them caught up with some _unsavory_ characters.." John spoke again in an attempt to lighten her mood.

Tali looked up to him, her thin lips curling into a smile as she softly chuckled.

"Especially those handsome, _troublesome_ ship captain's. They can be much too seductive for their own good." She finally teased, somewhat halfheartedly.

Tali exhaled and pushed herself back onto the bed sitting right into her human's lap. He smiled confidently as his arms wrapped around her into a hug. The tension in the quarian died as she slumped into John's chest.

"Do you have any suggestions?" John finally spoke as he pulled one arm away from her waist so his hand could play with her braids. Tali purred into his chest at the gentle tugging.

"Adoption." She said as though it had been the only and the most obvious answer in the world.

_Adoption?_ It was John's turn to rub the back of his neck.

"You do realize that I'm perfectly fine with in-vitro fertilization or whatever, right?" He informed her as his hands rubbed up and down her long arching spine. "I wouldn't mind seeing a pregnant Tali, you know..."

Tali pulled her head back and simply stared at him as though he had grown a second head.

"That might be fine with you, but it's not with me." Tali almost hissed. She paused and with a much more steady tone, she added. "I don't want to have something that you cant share fully with me... with adoption at least we're on equal footing. Call it a quirk, an eccentricity, call it a cultural difference, just forgive me if it's possible. I just don't want to have anyone else's child, even if its just a...well... I don't know."

John laughed slightly at Tali's lack of solid reasoning against having her own child. Sometimes that was okay not to have a proper reason, everyone was allowed to have an illogical fear or petty concern. He pushed his head up and pressed his lips against her forehead. His affection made he quarian's toes curl.

"Alright then, adoption it is." John confirmed, his hand grazing her cheek.

Tali nodded, her eyes closed as she leaned in.

"Adoption is what I want, John..." She mumbled sleepily, now buried deep into his neck. " I just want a family with you."

They fell silent. Tali once again seemed to fall back deep into her thoughts. Probably about plans for adding on several rooms for children in their unfinished home on Rannoch. Suddenly, the woman actually giggled.

"Keelah, I wonder what went on between us when our mothers sent us off." Tali wondered allowed. "I seemed like such a pest, and you were like a young Garrus Vakarian. Stick up your ass and everything."

John facepalmed.

"I'm not sure... I can't remember much before I was thirteen." He once again admitted to the quarian on top of him. "But I still have this scar..." He paused and smirked "Think you can kiss it better? Since you're responsible for it and all..."

John grinned as Tali did just that, her lips pressed against the faint scar tissue. Oh... he was going to milk this incident for all it was worth. Before he could react however, Tali tugged her shirt off, once more exposed. her chest heaving into his as she leaned forward, her lips almost touching his.

"Oh...I think I can do a lot _better_ then a kiss... Right?"

John swallowed and nodded. Thought of their run in all those years ago and the children of their future were pushed aside as they made love for the rest of the night.

**...**

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**...**

"Will you stop please stop bouncing? Dammit I'm trying to concentrate!"

The small alien in the bubble ignored him as she yet again bounced against the studious John Shepard. His educator was going to be angry if he failed anymore basic mathematics. Now he was trying and he was being poked and prodded like he was the curiosity, not her. She would not shut up either, she went on and on and on and on and on in a language that sounded like a lot of squealing to him.

Speaking of annoying, the girl known as Tali was now in the middle of a one sided game of peek at him and hide the moment he looked. He had no time for this. Why couldn't she just sit down and watch a vid or something. Something a normal kid would do. No... instead he was the focus of her attention.

He sighed as he finished another equation.

_"U'Tawe!"_ The girl suddenly screamed, bouncing out of her hiding place and latching onto his arm. John yelped as he shook the girl off him. Giggling again, the pest bounced away. John growled slightly. She was really starting to get on his nerves now.

"_Yesu_, Johnny, where did you pick that alien from... What happened?"

Shepard looked up with an annoyed look in his expression. It vanished as he took in the sight of his best friend, Kefilwe Van Rooyen. The girl flattened her dress as she sat down next to John. Her eyes were flickering from his forehead to the Alien, who was smiling toothily at the boy.

"First, stop calling me Johnny. Secondly she came with the quarians, and she did this." He said, pointing to his injury. The child's hand reached and grabbed his again. He groaned, adding "Oh, will you _Please _just let go of my hand?"

Tali giggled, not in the slightest bothered by his anger. Breaking the grip, he turned to Kefilwe, who was barely able to control her laughter.

"She keeps grabbing it like it's the funniest thing she ever seen." John grumbled as he turned his abused hand into a fist briefly before releasing. "It's annoying."

Kefilwe on the other hand, had a completely different view on the issue. Her eyes widened, her soft chocolate toned skin seemed to blush as she watched the two of them.

"I think she likes you, Johnny! That's _soooo_ adorable." The girl actually gushed as she watched the child continue her antics, bothered by him being an alien to her.

John scowled at the girl next to him.

"She's a _baby_! That's gross!"

Kefilwe rolled her eyes at the remark.

John stuck his tongue out, still very disgusted at the thought. Though he had to admit it was strange. Here she was in the company of another human and she seemed only focused on him,. Perhaps her people were simple minded when they were young... Or perhaps he was being a bit rough on her. She was pretty young to be seriously angry at. Even if she decided to scar him for life.

Before John realized it, the ship's intercom broke overhead of him. It was his mother.

_"John, report to the briefing room with the child." _She said_."Her parents are to depart."_

John sighed and nodded, pushing himself up from the couch and standing over the Bubble holding the quarian in side. She looked up, wide eyed at his much taller and broader form. Quietly he gestured for her to follow.

"Come on." He almost ordered.

Tali the quarian pest simply blinked. John facepalmed as he tried to ignore the girl he fancied laughter.

"Listen, I haven't got all day here, you have to leave now." He pressed on, knowing full well that the now babbling quarian could not understand him. John watched her screech and point to his hand. He lifted his hand again and carefully examined it.

Well... perhaps it would _work_.

John held it out to the curious little girl. She stepped forward, well, bounced forward her head tilted as she looked at the hand before finally latching on with a sudden happy chirp. From behind them, Kefilwe clapped as though he had performed a magic trick.

"_Awwww_... how sweet! She does like you!" She crowed and swooned.

John rolled his eyes as he led the quarian, now happily bouncing out of the recreation room and back at her parents, her hand clutching his like a vice.

"Shoot me dead if I ever feel the same for this pest." He called back to his friend.

Tali pulled his arm, he glanced down and found the alien girl staring up at him with her wide, break eyes. John sighed... perhaps she wasn't _thaaat_ bad.

**...**

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**...**

**I hope you enjoyed. Once again, these aren't drell memories, Hannah's not a Thane type. It's for the story. Anyways, I had writing it, even if it was constantly being doubted by me.**

**Next: Life is Never Straightforward**


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